Could Losing Weight Ease Your Arthritis Pain?

When a person is overweight, it increases the load on the joints, especially the knees, hips, and ankles. With every step one takes while walking, climbing stairs, or stepping in and out of the chair or vehicle, the joints will bear three to five times the body weight. This means, if a person is 40 pounds overweight, they are putting about 200 pounds of increased stress on the knees, hips, and ankles.

Excess weight over a prolonged period of time will make an individual more prone to developing arthritis, or cause existing arthritis to progress rapidly, and create much more pain in the process.

However, the principle also works in reverse, which means, weight loss can eventually ease arthritis pain. Dr. Wiljon Beltre provides bariatric surgeryand other weight loss procedures to patients in Orlando, Tampa, Altamonte Springs, Central Florida, and surrounding locations.

Pain Reduction through Weight Loss

According to orthopedic experts, all kinds of overweight and obese patients will experience reduction in arthritis induced joint pains as they begin to lose weight. Whether a patient loses a substantial amount of weight by undergoing a procedure performed by abariatric surgeon, or a patient loses weight in phases with the help of other weight loss surgical procedures, the benefits will be seen in almost every case.

To notice the improvement in pain levels, one does not have to lose 50 or 100 pounds in one time. Most arthritis patients will find that the pain is progressively diminishing as they lose about 20 to 25 pounds of weight. Many chronic arthritis patients report significant relief from pain following weight loss.

A patient who would typically limp around and groan in pain for the first few minutes after leaving the bed in the morning, will be able to experience a dramatic relief after weight loss. The patient will usually stop seeking excuses to sit instead of walking around, would be happy to go for long morning walks without any difficulty, and would be fit enough to work the next day.

Sustainable Relief

While weight loss through bariatric surgeryor another procedure cannot repair pre-existing damage caused to the joints by arthritis, it can still help to slow down the further progression of the disease. The decrease in pain coupled with slowing down of the disease progression delivers substantial benefit to the patient and helps to improve their quality of life.

Relief is long lasting both in terms of pain reduction and slowing down of the disease. Research studies reveal that knee osteoarthritis in obese men would reduce by nearly 22 percent if they lost enough weight to be classified merely as overweight. The reduction in case of women would be as much as 31 percent.

These are dramatic improvements in chronic patients of arthritis, which can be achieved simply through healthy weight loss, and without the involvement of other surgeries or treatments. Patients can enjoy greater function with lesser discomfort, and the period of time is extended before a patient may require joint replacement surgery. Bariatric surgeon Dr. Beltre receives patients from Orlando, Tampa, Altamonte Springs, Central Florida, and nearby areas.